The door closed behind her, and she could still hear Aurora grumbling angrily inside: “Students these days... they have no respect for their elders at all...”
Lilith stood in the hallway and let out a helpless sigh.
“Sigh, Demonic Energy again...”
She walked toward the dormitory, mulling it over in her mind.
A thousand-year-old ruin, the place where the Demon King and the Hero fought, ultra-high Demonic Energy pollution...
This sounded like a massive headache.
According to her usual personality, she should stay as far away from such trouble as possible.
But for some reason, she felt an itch of curiosity in her heart.
“The place where the former Demon King fought...” Lilith rubbed her chin. “Maybe I’ll find something? Like how he defeated the Child of the World? Or... did he leave some kind of treasure behind?”
Although Veen had said that the former Demon King’s power and authority had already been passed down to her, what if? What if there were some leftovers that slipped through the cracks?
Besides, that ultra-high Demonic Energy pollution was also very intriguing.
“No, I have to go take a look,” Lilith decided. “What exactly is going on with this Demonic Energy?”
She quickened her pace toward the dormitory.
But after a few steps, she suddenly stopped.
“Wait... I don’t think I know where the ruins are located?”
The coordinates were written in the file, but she hadn’t memorized them! And even if she had, the Endless Mountains were so vast that she wouldn't know the specific way to get there.
“Ugh...” Lilith scratched her head. “Well, this is awkward.”
She stood there thinking for a long time before her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Right! I remember having a copied high-level magic book in my personal storage space that’s used for finding things!”
It was one of the books Lilith had conveniently copied back when she visited the library as the man in black to look at high-level magic books. At the time, she thought it was useless and left it to gather dust in her personal storage space.
“But it looks like it’ll be useful now.” Lilith gave a sly grin and turned to run toward the dormitory.
...
Ten minutes later, Lilith returned to her single suite.
She reached out and made a light swiping motion in front of her, and a black spatial crack slowly unfolded.
Lilith reached inside and began rummaging around.
She pulled a thick ancient book from the space and placed it on the table.
As Lilith flipped open the pages, she saw they were densely packed with various magic circles and casting essentials.
“...Searching Magic...” Lilith flipped through the pages quickly. “Ah, found it!”
She read it carefully.
【Locating Spell: Two methods. One can locate a target with known characteristics or associations. Casting requires relevant information about the target. The other involves diffusing one’s own magic to find a target, after which the caster must manually confirm if it is correct. The range increases with the amount of magic used.】
【Casting Time: 3–5 minutes】
【Caution: This magic may be subject to counter-tracking; use caution when locating unknown targets...】
“This is the one!” Lilith’s eyes sparkled.
She looked at the requirements for the first method. “Requires relevant information... I only have a text description, no image or scent. Will it work?”
After thinking it over, she decided to skip the first method and try the second.
In any case, there was nothing to lose if it failed.
Lilith sat cross-legged on the floor, spread the book out in front of her, and began to channel her magic according to the instructions.
“First, construct the magic circle...”
She extended her index finger and traced it lightly through the air.
Pale red magic flowed from her fingertip, sketching a complex circular array in the air. A hexagram sat at the center of the array, surrounded by various runes.
“Then, inject magic.”
Lilith took a deep breath and poured magic into the array. Using the array as the center, the magic began to diffuse outward.
Lilith furrowed her brows. “I haven’t found it. Is there not enough magic?”
A moment later, Lilith increased the amount of magic she injected. However, what Lilith didn’t know was that her magic had already enveloped the entire world.
Finally, Lilith found a place that met the conditions.
A pale red glow circulated through the room, and the hexagram in the center of the array began to rotate slowly.
The rotation grew faster and faster, and the light became increasingly bright.
Suddenly, an image appeared within the array.
It was a desolate mountain area. In the very center of the image was a bottomless crater, its edges emitting an ominous dark red glow.
“Found it!” Lilith felt a surge of joy.
But at that moment, an anomaly occurred.
The crater in the image suddenly vibrated violently, and a powerful suction force emanated from the array, frantically draining Lilith’s magic!
“What’s going on?!” Lilith was startled. Decisive, she slammed her left hand onto the magic circle!
The array exploded.
Crimson light splattered in all directions, bathing the room in a deep red glow.
“Cough, cough...” Lilith coughed twice.
The magic circle had vanished, leaving only drifting red light and the smell of ozone in the room.
But Lilith remembered the sensation from that brief moment very clearly.
Those ruins... there was definitely something wrong with them.
“It’s not just as simple as Demonic Energy pollution.”
“There’s something there—something alive.”
And that thing could use the Locating Spell to reverse-track the caster.
If she hadn't reacted quickly and cut the connection in time, that thing might have already locked onto her location.
“This is going to be troublesome...” Lilith sighed.
But instead of being afraid, she grew even more excited.
“Interesting.” Her eyes were bright. “It looks like I absolutely have to go on this trip. I’m going to find it and beat it to a pulp.”
However, she needed to make some preparations before going.
Lilith walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked toward the Endless Mountains.
“Just you wait. I’ll be there soon.”
Outside the window, the sun was setting, staining the horizon a blood-red color.
It looked just like the light around the edge of that crater in the ruins.
At the exact moment Lilith cut the magical connection.
Deep within a bottomless crater in the eastern Endless Mountains.
A pair of crimson eyes slowly opened.
The owner of the eyes let out a low laugh that echoed in the darkness.
“It seems I’ve found some interesting prey. The more people who come here, the better. Probably another Rank 9, another source of nourishment. Hahaha...”
The voice gradually faded, and the eyes closed once more.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Only the dark red light at the edge of the crater flickered slightly.
As if in response to something.
Rate on N.U.
